Galinetal



Feb. 21, 1956 H. GALIN ET AL 2,735,580

COMBINED SELECTING AND EJECTING MECHANISM FOR MULTIPLE VENDING MACHINESFiled May 7, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet l suscme 1 cal/v MECHANISM INVENTORSHARRY Gnu/v,

LAweE/vcE R5156,

I a r ATTORNEYS Feb. 21, 1956 H. GALIN ET AL 2,735,580

COMBINED SELECTING AND EJECTING MECHANISM FOR MULTIPLE VENDING MACHINESFiled May 7, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVEN'R )RS HA REY GAL/N, LA WEENCERE/SS COMBINED SELECTKNG AND EJECTING MECH- ANISM FOR MULTIPLE VENDINGMACHINES Harry Galin, Yonkers, and Lawrence Reiss, New Rochelle, N. Y.

Application May 7, 1952, Serial No. 286,532

4 Claims. (Cl. 221-127) This invention relates to coin controlledvending machines of the multiple type in which difi'erent kinds ofsandwiches or other vendable articles are stacked in two or moremagazines to be ejected one at a time upon each operation of themachine; and it relates more particularly to an improved combinationselecting and ejecting mechanism for such multiple dispensing or vendingmachines.

The object of the invention is to provide in a multiple vending machinea simple, effective and practical selecting and ejecting mechanism inwhich a single operating member may be rotated to operatively connect itwith any one of the ejectors of the two or more article magazines andthen slid longitudinally to actuate the selected ejector.

With the above and other objects and advantages in view, the inventionresides in the novel combinations and arrangements of parts and thenovel features of construction hereinafter described and claimed, andillustrated in the accompanying drawings which show the presentpreferredembodiment of the invention.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a vertical front-to-rear sectional view of portions of avending machine embodying the invention, parts being diagrammaticallyillustrated;

Fig. 2 is a detail view of a portion of the front of the cabinet showingthe outer end of the hand piece on the rotatable and slidable operatingrod and associated parts;

Fig. 3 is a detail vertical section taken on line 3-3 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a detail vertical section taken on line 4-4 in Fig.3;

Fig. 5 is a detail horizontal section taken on line 5-5 in Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a detail vertical section taken on line 6-6 in Fig. 4;

Fig. 7 is a detail perspective view of mechanism;

Fig. 8 is a detail section taken on line 8-8 in Fig. 1; and

Fig. 9 is a detail perspective view of a portion of one of the ejectorslides.

Referring more in detail to the drawings the numeral 10 denotesgenerally a suitable casing or cabinet which may have a back wall 11, atop wall 12 and a front wall 13. The upper portion 14 of the front maybe in the form of a hinged or removable door to give access to theinterior of the cabinet. In the upper part of the cabinet are two ormore upright magazines 15 in which different kinds of sandwiches orother packages or articles to be selectively vended or dispensed arestacked as indicated at A in Fig. 3. The vertical merchandise containersor magazines 15 are arranged in a row, and as shown are supported on aninterior frame structure 16 arranged between the rear wall 11 and thecasing 17 of a coin activating mechanism set into the front wall 13beneath the door 14. The supporting frame 16 preferably includes twohorizontally spaced parallel plates 18 which have inturned longitudinalflanges 19 along at least their upper edges. The magazines 15 may be ofany suitable conparts of the selector struction to hold the verticalstacks of articles A, but as shown they are of rectangular shape incross section and have parallel side plates 20 with inturned bottomflanges 21 secured to the flanges 19 as seen in Fig. 3. The stack ofarticles A in each holder 15 rests on the flanges 21 and the lowermostarticle is ejected in a forward direction into a suitable dischargechute 22 having an upper end large enough to receive the articlesejected from both stacks.

Each of the article magazines 15 has its own ejector unit 23 actuated bya lever 24, and these levers are selectively actuated by a singleoperating member 25 as hereinafter described. The ejectors are of thesame construction and description of one will suffice for both or forall if more than two kinds of articles are to .be dispensed. The unit 23is slidable in a forward and rearward direction on the frame plates 18and includes a slide plate 26 disposed beneath the flanges 19 and formedwith downturned flanges 27. The latter are formed with openings toreceive at least two guide pins or bolts 28 movable in longitudinalslots 29 formed in the plates 18. The ejector slide 26 has a recess 29at one end to receive an article-engaging ejector member or block 30 ofless length than the distance between the opposed flanges 19 and 21. Theblock 30 is of substantially triangular shape in cross section and ispivoted adjacent one of its angles on a transverse rod 31, the ends ofwhich are supported in openings 32 formed in downturned lugs 33 struckfrom the recessed portion of the slide plate 26. The ejector block 30has three flat faces 34, 35 and 36 and is so proportioned and mountedthat when the slide unit 23 is in normal position shown in Fig. 4 theface 34 will be disposed in a downwardly and rearwardly inclinedposition in advance of the forward bottom edge of the lowermost articleA. The block is held in that position by a spring 37 which engages theface 36 and thrusts the face 35 against a stop rod 38. The latter issupported by ears 39 formed on the lugs 33. The spring 37 is of the leaftype and is carried by the center of a transverse resilient cross bar 40having bent ends 41 secured by suitable fastenings in apertures in theopposed lugs 33. The parts are so proportioned and arranged that whenthe slide unit 23 is moved rearwardly from the position in Fig. 4, thelowermost article A will swing the ejector block against the tension ofspring 37 so that the face 34 will slide along the bottom of thatarticle until the forward edge of face 34 passes the rear end of thearticle, whereupon spring 37 moves the block to the dotted line positionin Fig. 4 to dispose the face 35 against the stop 38 and the face 36 inrear of the lowermost article. When the slide unit 23 returns to itsforward position, the face 36 will push the lowermost article from thestack and allow it to drop into the chute 22. It is to be understoodthat other forms of slidable ejectors may be employed.

The levers 24 are disposed on the outer side of one of the frame plates18 and each is pivoted between its ends on a suitable fulcrum such as abolt 43. The levers are thus mounted in a row parallel with thelongitudinal axis of the rod 25. A sliding and pivotal connection isprovided between the upper ends of the levers and the ejector slides. Asshown these ends of the levers are formed with longitud nal slots 44 toreceive pivot bolts 45 which are arranged between the bolts 28 and whichalso pass through the slots 29. To more effectively guide the slideplate 26 of the unit 23, the bolts 28 and 45 may pass through openingsin an outer plate or strap 46 disposed against the outer face of theadjacent frame plate 18. Each lever 24 is actuated in one direction by acoil spring 47 fastened at one end to the upper arm of the lever and atits other end to the plate 18, the casing 17 or some fixed part in thecabinet.

The single operating member 25 is a combined selector and ejectoractuator. It is in the form of a cylindrical rod or plunger which may berotated about its axis to operatively connect it with any one ofthe'levers 24 and which is then slid longitudinally to actuate theselected ejector lever. The selector feature comprises pins 50 spacedlongitudinally along the rod and projecting radially atcircumferentially spaced points around the axis of the rod, one pinbeing provided for each lever and being movable into and out of alongitudinal slot 51 in the lower end of the lever when the rod isrotated. The arrangement is such that only one of the pins will projectinto the slot in the coacting lever at a time. The circumferentialspacing of the pins will depend upon the number of magazines in thecabinet. When two magazines are used, the pins 50 may becircumferentially spaced 90 apart as shown, so that a one quarterrotation of the operating rod will dispose one pin or the other in theslot of its lever to operatively connect these elements. In order toinsure that one pin or the other may be connected to its lever, meansare provided, preferably at the rear end of the rod, to limit itsrotation and to dispose the pins in positions that will permit eitherpin to be turned into or out of its lever slot when the rod is in itsinnermost position. This means comprises a guiding and supporting member52 in the form of a rectangular block projecting from the rear wall 11or otherwise fixedly mounted. The block has a cylindrical bore 53 inwhich the rod 25 is slidably and rotatably arranged, the block alsohaving two longitudinal grooves or channels 54 and 55 which open intothe bore and are disposed 90 apart.

On the end of the rod is a radial pin 56 which may be i turned foralinement with either channel. The control pin 56 is normally disposedin a recess 57 at the end of the block and into which both the bore andthe channels open. It will be seen upon reference to Figs. 7 and 8, thatthe pin 56 will prevent sliding movement of the operating rod until itis in register with one or the other of the channels. It will also beseen that the guide block 52, in connection with the pin 56, will notonly control both the rotary and sliding movements of the selector rodor bar 25, but will also form a support for the rear end of the same.

The selecting and operating member or rod 25 is shown as extendingthrough and forming a part of a coin controlled mechanism within thecasing 17 The mechanism includes a coin chute 60 leading to a slugejector 61 associated with a coin mechanism 62, these parts beingdiagrammatically shown in Fig. 1. The coin mechanism includes areversible pawl 63 coacting with a ratchet or rack bar 64 arranged in awell known manner, so that when a knob or finger piece 65, fixed to theouter end of the member 25, is operated to pull or push the latter ineither direction, it must make a full stroke in either direction beforeits direction of movement can be reversed. The bar or plunger 25 isshown as continuous from end to end but it will be understood that itwill be made of separable sections connected to rotate and slide as aunit. On the outer face of the knob 65 is placed an arrow or other mark66 to coact with an arcuate scale 67 suitably applied to the front ofthe casing 17 so that the user of the machine may set the selector bar25 to operatively connect it with the ejector mechanism of either thefront magazine marked (1) or the rear magazine marked (2). The coinmechanism normally locks the selector bar or plunger against slidingmovement until a proper coin has been deposited in the slot of chute 60but permits it to be turned so that the arrow 66 may be directed towardeither the numeral 1 or 2 on the scale 67 and thus properly position thepins 50 according to which ejector unit is to be operated when the knobis pulled outwardly.

The operation of the machine is apparent from the foregoing descriptionbut will be briefly described. The knob 65 is turned to cause its arrowto point to the numeral 1 or 2 on the scale according to the kind ofsandwich or other article desired by the operator. A coin is thendeposited in the chute 60 to unlock the member 25 for sliding movement.The operator then pulls the knob outwardly to the limit of its slidingmovement and releases it. On the outward movement the proper lever 24-will be actuated to eject the lowermost article in the selected magazineinto the chute 22. Upon release of the member 25, one of the springs 47or spring means within the coin mechanism will restore the parts totheir original or normal positions.

From the foregoing, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing,it will be seen that novel and advantageous provision has been made forcarrying out the objects of the invention, and while preferences havebeen disclosed, attention is invited to the possibility of makingvariations within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed is:

1. In a machine of the character described, a combined selector andejector rod, means mounting said rod for both rotary and slidingmovements, said mounting means including an elongated body having alongitudinal bore in which said rod is slidably and rotatablypositioned, the interior of said body having a plurality of longitudinalchannels which open into said bore throughout their lengths and aredisposed at different radial angles around said bore, said body alsohaving a transverse recess into which one end of said bore and one endof each of said channels open, a control pin projecting radially fromsaid rod and normally disposed in said transverse recess when said rodis in one position of longitudinal adjustment, said pin being movable byrotation of said rod into alinement with any one of said channels sothat said rod may be moved longitudinally as said pin slides in one ofsaid channels, a plurality of ejector-actuating pins spaced apartlongitudinally on said rod, the last mentioned pins projecting from saidrod at different radial angles corresponding to the radial arrangementof said channels, and a plurality of ejector-operating levers mounted ina row parallel with the axis of said rod, said levers corresponding innumber with the last mentioned pins and having slots to selectivelyreceive said pins.

2. The structure of claim 1 together with a handle fixed to said rod formanually rotating it and pulling it longitudinally from its said oneposition, and spring means for returning the rod to said one position.

3. The structure of claim 1 together with coin released mechanism forcontrolling the sliding movement of said rod. 7

4. The structure of claim 1 in which said levers ar fulcrumed betweentheir ends on an upright frame plate extending forwardly and rearwardlyin a casing, said slots opening through the lower ends of said levers,in which said rod extends in a forward and rearward direction in saidcasing past the slotted lower ends of said levers and has its forwardend extending through the front of the casing and provided with anoperating handle, and in which said elongated body is disposed at therear of said casing and serves as a support for the rear end of saidrod, together with spring means for actuating said levers in onedirection.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS449,024 Allin Mar. 24, 1891 767,306 Mitchell Aug. 9, 1904 937,820 LadueOct. 26, 1909 1,573,955 Waldron Feb. 23, 1926 1,925,685 Antoine et al.Sept. 5, 1933 1,959,688 Petersen May 22, 1934 2,098,697 Vanderput Nov.9, 1937 2,380,093 Wilder July 10, 1945

